The Sublime in Contemporary Arts
The Sublime in Contemporary Arts

Summary/Abstract: The sublime (elevated, lofty, supreme), a concept introduced to the philosophy of arts by Burke, today appears to be realized in the technologically sublime. For our post Star wars generations the metaphysical has become more and more physical. We find the highest expressions of the sublime in movies (Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott), science fiction (Arthur C. Clarke, Ian M. Banks) and techno/ambient music (Brian Eno). Music, though, is special among arts as it has always been the expression of harmonia mundi (best seen in the works of Steve Reich). In visual art, Burke’s theory of the sublime had a crucial influence on the work of Barnett Newman, who, based on a peculiarly American tradition, chose as his theme the inexpressible. In our age of living “utterly distanced from God” the Skyscape series of James Turrel (Space that Sees in Jerusalem, Roden-crater in New-Mexico) focuses our attention on the remarkable qualities of space and light—light that is scientifically inscrutable and irreducible.

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